Behind the Eyes
by flyingfishbird
Summary: When the team gets the call of a murdered Marine, they get more than they bargained for when they find a new friend who carries a secret in her pocket that will send the whole team into a tailspin.
1. Robyn

**(A/N This is "The Good Kid Revised" I decided to kind of start over with it. I might continue with the original one also, I haven't decided yet. Hope you all like it!)**

"Tony! So help me, if you pick that straw up one more time I'll shove it up your-"

"But Ziva, your reaction is priceless. Therefore, I have no reason to stop." Tony said with a pampas smirk as he lifted the straw to his lips and sent a quick puff of air through the hollow object, sending a small wad of moisturized paper at Ziva's forehead. Instinctively, Ziva's arms swung wildly in front of her face, trying to stop the ball of saliva, but to no avail. The scene caused Tony to burst into a fit of mindless laughter as tears welled up in his eyes.

Tony's laughter was short lived as an enemy spitball found its way to the corner of his mouth, where it stuck. He looked around in a sort of frenzy until his eyes rested on the now chuckling McGee. In mock laughter Tony said, "You think this is funny Probie?" The question remained in the air as Tony tried to peel the childish spitball from his face which only caused another chuckle that erupted into laughter from both Ziva and McGee. Tony looked confused until he saw the small container of Super Glue resting on McGee's desk.

"Now I think it's funny." McGee said with a grin as both him and Ziva exchanged air high fives. They watched as Tony scratched at the wad of glue now clinging to his face. The light moment faded fast as a new figure entered the bull pen.

"Grab your gear. We got a dead Marine just outside of Norfolk." Gibbs informed as he walked through the bullpen with little interest, but with a sudden stop he looked down at Tony and said, "DiNozzo, you got a little something right here." He pointed to the corner of his own mouth indicating where the 'something' was on DiNozzo.

"Thanks, boss…"

. . .

By the time they arrived at the apartment where the Marine mentioned was killed, Tony had rubbed nearly half of the spitball off, sending cold glares directed to McGee who he hadn't spoken a word to since they left the base. This didn't seem to bother McGee as much as Tony had hoped.

Gibbs gave everyone their jobs. McGee was taking pictures of the body and whatever seemed to be of importance, DiNozzo was examining evidence in the room of where she died which in this case was the smaller of the two bedrooms which looked like it belonged to a teenager. Ducky and Palmer were determining the time of death which they found was around 10: 30 this morning and Ziva was left interviewing the husband with Gibbs.

At this point, the husband was a wreck. His name was Richard Frost, a real estate agent who was allegedly working with a house five miles away during the time of the murder. He was a tall, lanky man who had absolutely no visible facial hair whatsoever. There wasn't even a 5 o'clock shadow despite it being 7 o'clock now. It was almost like he shaved every few minutes although the hair on top of his head was thick, wavy and excruciatingly dark.

"What was your wife's name Mr. Frost?" Ziva asked calmly as she held a little pad of paper and a pencil as she waited for information worthy enough to be written down.

Between feeble sobs, Richard said, "He-Her name was S-Sara. Sara Fro-Frost." He moaned and covered his face with his hands, as if shielding himself from the gruesome scene just above them.

"Does anyone else live here?" Gibbs asked patiently.

Frost slowly took his hands away from his face and exhaled before saying, "Her foster kid…" He answered solemnly. "Her name is Robyn Porter. A problem child." He said with venom in his voice.

"You didn't adopt her?" Ziva asked, a bit confused at the hatred toward the girl.

"Well, I was around when Sara adopted her. But as soon as I saw what a menace she was, I was going to send her right back, but Sara refused. Told me to leave if that was really how I felt. But I loved Sara, so I dealt with the kid."

"Do you know where she is now?"

"Nope. I never know where that girl goes. Sara was always the one who kept track of her. If you ask me, I bet she has something to do with this whole thing." Frost accused.

"Did you call her and tell her what happened to Mrs. Frost?"

"No, I figure she already knows, or she will find out whenever she walks through that door. _If _she ever walks through that door."

"Excuse me for asking Mr. Frost, but did Robyn ever do something to cause you to feel this way about her?"

"It's just this look about her. Like she knows something we don't, all the damn time. Like she's smarter than everyone. And she's always out doing something weird. I don't know what, but she's never home, and damned if I've ever seen her with friends. I think she's on drugs or something." Frost answered, an accomplished look on his face, as if he was relieved to get that out.

After a few more minutes of back and forth Q&A, Frost asked if he could step outside to get some air. Gibbs nodded and told Ziva to stay and help DiNozzo and McGee gather evidence while he accompanied the man to continue with a few unanswered questions. Almost as soon as they stepped onto the grass of the front yard, a girl who looked around 16 came walking up the road, toward the house carrying a green backpack on one shoulder, looking like she was coming from school, which was weird since it was around 8:00 pm at the moment. She had deep red hair and piercing blue eyes and light freckles that crossed the bridge of her nose. Gibbs immediately saw the look that Frost had been talking about, except Frost had misinterpreted it. Gibbs knew it immediately. She did know something many people didn't. It was the look of someone who had just one too many encounters with pain in their life. Gibbs knew because he saw it every day when he looked in the mirror.

"About time you show up!" Frost shouted immediately.

"Nice to see you too, Dick." She responded calmly.

In a fit of rage which Gibbs had no idea of the reasoning, Richard snapped, "Why don't you just go inside and look at what you've done! It's your goddamn fault!"

"What the hell is your problem today?" She snapped back. "I just got home! What could I have done? Jesus!" She shouted angrily. "You usually wait for people to leave before you go ape shit!"

"That's enough!" Gibbs chimed in. It was answered by a glare from Robyn. She believed that he was a friend of Richard's and was sticking up for him. She was surprised when she received a sympathetic look in return.

"I think you should wait inside Mr. Frost." Gibbs advised, although it wasn't really a suggestion.

"I was going to anyway." He grumbled, making it sound like it was his idea in the first place. He stalked off, walking through the front door and slamming it behind him. When Robyn tried to walk around Gibbs to get inside herself, he put a hand up, stopping her.

"What do you want?" She asked, glaring up at him.

He thought for a moment before responding. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, from NCIS."

The color washed away from Robyn's face. She knew what was coming next, but she remained silent, waiting for the confirmation.

"Your foster mother was murdered this morning." Her backpack fell onto the grass and before he could stop her, she ran passed him, bursting through the front door, nearly knocking Tony off his feet. Gibbs was close behind her. She ran around the house, looking for Sara in desperation, dodging the agents and Frost with some difficulty. Gibbs almost got her twice. When she didn't see her, she ran up the stairs, seeing Ziva and McGee. They had heard the commotion downstairs and were ready. Wasting no time, she ran down the hallway. Ziva was standing midway between the stairs and the room she was guarding. Robyn was able to duck under her arms at the last second only to lose her footing and crash into McGee who held onto her in a vice-like bear-hug. McGee had been standing in the doorway and Robyn had pushed him back a few inches, giving her a quick glimpse of what was inside.

The body was facing Robyn, lying on her back. She saw those lifeless eyes. Blood had dried on the corner of her mouth and along the side of her face that was facing the ceiling. Despite all this, her hair was perfect. Wrapped into a flawless bun. Her hair was always perfect…

Robyn's stomach clenched so hard that she would have doubled over it McGee hadn't been holding her. She stopped fighting and he loosened his hold, looking up at Gibbs who had been watching these events unfold.

Tony finally ran up the stairs, breathing hard, followed closely by Richard.

"Don't act so surprised! You know that this was all because of you!" Frost shouted almost the second he reached the last step.

DiNozzo turned to him sharply.

"Shut up, Dick!"

. . .

The team finally arrived back at the NCIS base, bringing with them Robyn Porter after realizing that it wasn't a good idea to leave her with a foster father who kept accusing her of murder. Both Robyn and Richard seemed okay with this idea, although Robyn hadn't said much since the events at the house.

They had tried making conversation with her the whole way back, but the only response they received was heartbreaking silence. She hardly even moved other than her hands as they fiddled with an old compass.

Once they were in the building, Gibbs looked down at her as she looked down at the floor. "I know it's hard. But we are here to help. Understand?" His voice was calm and gentle, and for a split second, he thought he saw Robyn nod. He patted her on the head before leading her to what looked to be a conference room. He left for only a moment before coming back with a soda, placing it in front of her.

"Thought you might be thirsty." He said as he sat on the table just a few feet away from her. She didn't touch it.

"Thanks…" Was all that she could muster up. Even then, her voice cracked somewhere in the middle. It was strange to Gibbs. Usually people cried. He knew that she must be falling apart on the inside, but she wasn't letting herself reveal just how broken she was.

"You're welcome." He said, glad to hear her speak. "Can I ask you a few questions about your mom?" He asked with a sense of care in his voice.

"Foster mom." She corrected. "And you're going to ask anyway, so go for it."

Gibbs looked at her for a moment, trying to figure her out. "Tell me about the last time you saw her."

There was hesitation before she spoke. "Well…it was last night. She was in the middle of making dinner when she got a phone call. I didn't think anything of it because she's always getting calls from her Marine buddies." She stopped for a moment, gathering her thoughts before she continued, "She sounded upset and then walked outside so we wouldn't hear the call. We all need privacy…right?" She sighed heavily. "Well, I went out to check on her because the food was burning. She never walks away from the stove like that. She was always really afraid of fire. When I did, something was off. She had a distant look on her face. She didn't say anything to me when I asked her questions, so I figured that someone had died in the line of duty, so I left it alone. That's the last time I spoke to her…"

"When did you leave the house?"

Robyn thought for a moment. "7 this morning. I left for school."

"Why didn't you come back right after school?" He asked.

"Well, me and Dick don't exactly get along. So I avoid going home. I usually stay out longer if I can."

Gibbs dropped the subject quickly. "We'll make arrangements of where you'll be staying tonight." Seeing the distraught look on her face, he got to his feet and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Everything will be alright. We will find the person who did this. I promise."

"Don't do that." She said quickly.

"Do what?"

"Promise. Don't do that. Everyone breaks promises. They don't mean anything."

Gibbs nodded, understanding. "Alright. I won't promise. But I know we will catch the killer." He said as he walked out of the room. Robyn knew he wanted her to follow, so she stood up and left the room behind him, leaving the soda sitting on the table.

When they walked toward the bullpen, the team looked a little surprised. Robyn had taken a chair from one of the cubicles that wasn't being occupied and rolled it to the middle, sitting down. To everyone's sheer amazement, she initiated the conversation. Within a matter of minutes, everyone was cracking up and having a good time, even Robyn.

Even though DiNozzo was laughing, he knew that Robyn was hiding behind her humor. He used the same tactic. Like Gibbs, he recognized that look in her eye.


	2. Blame

It was time for the team to retire for the night. Gibbs and Robyn were the last ones to go. It had been previously decided that since Gibbs had gotten her to talk in the first place, that he should be the one to provide a place to stay while the case was going on.

As morning faded into night, Gibbs was doing his best to get Robyn to eat some dinner. Even a bite would have satisfied him, but she was relentless. They had been at Gibbs' house for only two hours and in that time, Robyn had reverted back to barely speaking.

"You have to face it sometime you know." He said with uncharacteristic softness.

Her jaw clenched. "No I don't."

"If you don't, you're just going to end up hurting yourself even more."

"Nah, I think I'll be okay." She argued.

"So you're going to ignore it?"

"That's the plan." She said evenly. She never broke eye contact when she spoke to him. "Why do you care so much about how I deal with it anyway?"

"I don't." Gibbs responded smoothly. He got the reaction he was looking for. She tried not to look bothered, but it was obvious she was. "But I just know the right way to hold onto things and the wrong way." Although, in truth, he really did care, but he also knew that this was the only way to get her to face it.

"I'm not holding onto anything." She said quickly. "In fact, I already let it go."

"Not thinking about it isn't the same as letting it go."

"Of course it is. It can't bother you if you don't think about it."

"Until it does." Gibbs said calmly.

Frustrated, Robyn changed the subject. "Okay, Gandhi. I think I'm going to go to sleep." She said as she stood up from the table.

Gibbs gave her a half smile. "Down the hall, first door on your left. That's where you're sleeping." He directed her.

She looked down the hall for a moment, looking almost confused. Gibbs watched her, wondering what she was thinking. He quickly realized that she hadn't been expecting an actual room, but the couch. For some reason, this seemed really important to her. After a few seconds, Robyn looked back at him.

"Thank you." Was all that she said as she swiped up her pack from the floor and started down the hall. Gibbs waited for the door to shut before he gathered up the plates from the table, placed them in the sink and proceeded down into the basement to work on his half finished boat. It wasn't until about three hours later, around 1 o'clock when he heard footsteps tapping along the basement steps.

"What's up?" He asked without even looking up at her.

"Couldn't sleep." She muttered. "Why are you building a boat in your basement?"

"Keeps me busy." He answered simply.

There was a long pause.

"You want to help?" Gibbs asked.

"I'll mess it up."

He tossed her a sander, as if he hadn't even heard her. "With the grain. Not against." Was his only direction.

She looked down at the sander in her hands and then at the boat. She walked a little closer and before the sander even came near it, she touched one of the ribs of the boat with her fingertips, getting into the motion. She finally brought the sander up to the boat's surface and started working.

After a while of silence, the sound of scraping wood quieted. Gibbs looked over at Robyn, wondering why the sudden stop.

"She was killed in my room." Robyn stated.

"I know." Gibbs responded, waiting for her to continue.

Robyn looked over at him. "She was all I had left. And she died in my room. What does that say?" Her voice was filled with hurt, but it didn't reach her face. She refused to allow it.

"It doesn't say anything. Not about you anyway."

The look on her face told him that she didn't believe it.

"So, it's just my luck?"

"I don't believe in luck, good or bad." Gibbs answered.

"Well, neither do I, but I wouldn't even want to get too close to me."

"She didn't die because of you." He said firmly. "Understand?"

He was rewarded with a slight nod.

"I just thought that maybe, I finally had something close to being a real, normal life. All I had to do was sidestep Dick every now and then. But that was okay, because Sara cared. She took me in when I was eleven. I didn't say a word for a whole month. But instead of taking me back to that place, she waited. Eventually, we started having real, whole conversations."

Gibbs stayed quiet.

"I was just starting to be okay. After five years, I was starting to act normal. I even tried out for the softball team last week. Now, it doesn't matter. Even if I make it, she won't be there. Because she was murdered… in my own room."

"Look, I know that you're scared but-"

"I'm not scared!" She snapped defensively.

Gibbs gave her a look and continued, "But, if you quit now, what will people think of you?" Gibbs knew immediately that this struck a nerve. He didn't even have to look at her. "So, you keep moving forward. People say 'don't look back', but that's bull. If you don't look back then you'll forget the person you don't want to be. That's the reason history repeats itself. Not because people are stupid, but because they don't want to look back on old, bad decisions and learn from them. So they make the same mistakes. You said before that you stopped thinking about all the things that happened to you, and look. You're already reverting to the kid who wouldn't speak. We've had a total of two conversations in the five hours that you've been here."

Robyn wouldn't look at him now. "History repeats itself no matter what you do." She said through clenched teeth. "People either die around me, or they leave and I come right back to this."

Gibbs knew that she wasn't just talking about Sara now.

"What happened to your parents?" He asked softly.

"Mom died, dad left. 'Course, nobody tells you anything about your parents when you're an orphan, so it's just a guess. But I think it's an alright one."

"What made you come up with that?" Gibbs was curious now.

"Well, I remember her voice… not his. So, as far as I'm concerned, he never existed." She said evenly. "Then, she died… I know she didn't leave because her voice was nice. It didn't belong to somebody that could just give their kid away. But that's all I can remember. That and this stupid compass." She said as she dug an old, gold compass out of her pocket.

"I've had it for as long as I can remember."

Gibbs held his hand out from across the room, silently asking to see it. She tossed it to him, over the boat where he caught it as it landed perfectly in his hand. He brought it close to his face, turning it over in his fingers. He couldn't help feeling in his gut that it looked familiar. Shrugging it off he said, "You think it was your mom's?" He asked, tossing it back to her.

Catching it, she answered, "Hell if I know. I'd like to think so." She placed it securely back in her pocket. She obviously didn't think the compass was as stupid as she said, but he knew that she was angry and exhausted. She had done as much as she emotionally could that day.

"I think you should let yourself take the night off. Get some sleep." Gibbs ordered.

Her eyes were bloodshot from being overworked. Clearly all they wanted to do was shut down for the night. "Okay." She muttered as she stepped away from the boat and began to ascend the stairs. For just a moment, Gibbs thought he heard a sniff as she reached the top, but was unable to confirm it as the basement door shut behind her. When this case was over, there was no way they could send her back to Richard and they couldn't send her back to the orphanage. He knew that would kill her and he just couldn't live with that, but he didn't see another option. He just hoped that they had time to figure out a solution.

. . .

"Tony! You said you would forget about the whole spitball thing!" McGee exclaimed obviously flustered. Tony, who now sported a band-aid on the corner of his mouth just laughed sarcastically at the angry Probie, who was not trying to get his hand out of the vending machine.

"Oh yeah. I guess I forgot." He says with a slight shrug, hiding his grin. "Well, we can let bygones be bygones and just let it go." Tony said, suppressing a burst of hilarity.

"Tony! Get my hand out!" McGee shouted, his hand starting to ache due to the pressure of the little door.

"Say please." Tony said with a smirk.

With a sigh, McGee swallowed his pride and said, "Please…?"

"Now that wasn't too hard now was it Probie?" Tony said getting behind McGee and started to help him retrieve his hand.

At that moment the sound of an elevator door opening was heard. Robyn and Gibbs stepped out of it, and the first thing they were greeted by was two men at a vending machine. One was bent over, grunting and making strange, suggestive movements that caused Robyn's jaw to drop. Tony glanced behind him, seeing Gibbs with a coffee in hand and a look that nobody could read, but it was nothing good. It disappeared quickly as it was followed by the classic Gibbs glare.

"Boss!" Tony shouted as he got as far away from McGee as he could with the little time that he had. "Um…McKlutz got his hand stuck in the vending machine and I was tryin-"Tony said exasperated, trying to explain before he was cut off by Gibbs.

"Just get his hand out and get to work before McGee has to report you for sexual harassment." He demanded and began walking away as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Robyn had just started inching away from the scene, holding back laughter as she saw Tony's face get redder and redder. She peeled herself away, finding no words that would make the situation better.

"Please tell me it was only Gibbs…" McGee groaned

"Remember the kid from yesterday?" Tony asked, unable to even look at McGee now.

"Oh no…"

"Oh, yes."

. . .

As the day went on, Robyn kept herself busy alternating between the forensic lab and autopsy, the rest of the team were busy working on the case. McGee, who now was the proud owner of a searing red hand, glared at Tony every few minutes, until finally he hung up the phone and said with all the triumph he could muster, "I found something!"

"What is it McGoof?" Tony asked, creating a new name for his colleague out of thin air.

At that moment, Gibbs walked up and listened to the newfound evidence.

"Well, I was going through Mrs. Frost's phone records and I found the last call was from her last scheduled Marine base. I talked to the man in charge of it and found out that she was supposed to be going to Afghanistan and report to the base for brief training before leaving. It was originally planned that she was leaving at 5 o'clock pm. But… she was obviously-"

"Dead." Tony finished McGee's sentence for him.

"So why wouldn't Robyn or Frost have told us that she was supposed to be leaving?"Ziva asked confused.

"They didn't know?" McGee said, although it was more of a question. "But why?"

"She was trying to skip it." Gibbs said evenly. "The crime scene had clothes scattered all over it. It wasn't a struggle. She was packing." He explained.

"But it was Robyn's room, wasn't it?" Tony chimed in.

"She was the reason she wanted to skip out. She knew that she couldn't leave Robyn with Frost or send her back to the orphanage. She was in there packing Robyn's clothes so they could leave as soon as she got home that night."

"So why would someone want to kill her? Did someone find out?" Tony asked, trying to fit the pieces together.

"Maybe, but even if they did, it would not come to that." Ziva said simply.

"What if the killer had been planning this for a while, found out that she was leaving and decided to take the chance before she left?" McGee added.

"Keep digging." Gibbs ordered as he walked out of the bullpen and made his way to the forensics lab.

He stepped out of the elevator and heard a very animated conversation going on. The glass door slid open and Gibbs walked into the lab, seeing Robyn and Abby having a huge talk that looked like it had been going on for hours and wouldn't stop anytime soon.

"There is no way you can do that. That's insane!" Came Robyn's voice. She was beaming. Gibbs was almost stunned. She was usually so intense, but right now it seemed that she was damn near being happy.

"I so can! I'll pro-" Abby's voice cut off the moment she saw Gibbs. This caused Robyn to spin around on the stool she was sitting on so she was fully facing Gibbs.

"Hey Gibbs!" They both greeted in unison. When Robyn was actually smiling, she looked so familiar, but he just could not place it.

He walked over and placed the Caf-Pow he had brought for Abby on the counter.

"What do you got Abby?" He asked, giving Robyn a warning look. He didn't want her around when they talked about the murder.

"It's okay Gibbs." Abby said, noticing his look. "I haven't found much. I just ran some fingerprints and they are all a match for Sara, Robyn and Richard. I haven't gotten a chance to really go through the evidence yet. Do you have any leads?" She asked.

"No." He answered smoothly. "Not yet."

Robyn looked slightly disappointed as she moved her gaze towards the ground.

Gibbs approached Abby and whispered in her ear, "Don't let her go down to autopsy. Ducky started half an hour ago."

Abby nodded, understanding. "Got it. Come back soon. I might have something by then." She said with a smile.

Gibbs kissed her forehead. "I know you will." He said before leaving to go see Ducky.

. . .

"Oh, Jethro! Just the man I wanted to see!" Ducky said brightly. The body of Sara Frost lay cut open on the autopsy table.

"What do you got for me, Duck?"

"Well, the cause of death is rather simple. Four knife wounds to the chest. The first blow is what killed her. The second would have been just for good measure, but the killer stabbed her three more times. Now, I'm no psychologist, but that seems to me that this was-"

"An act of passion." Gibbs finished

"Doctor!" Palmer said, trying to grab their attention. "Could you look at this?"

Both Ducky and Gibbs walked over to the body. Jimmy pointed to one of the ribs where a small piece of metal was jutting out of it, embedded deeply into the bone. He pulled the shard out with a large pair of tweezers and dropped it into a small metal bowl to examine it.

"The tip of the knife?" Palmer asked, looking for confirmation.

"That is certainly what it looks like." Ducky answered. "Would you be so kind as to send this up to Abby for testing, Jimmy?" Ducky asked, handing Palmer the bowl with the metal.

"Yes sir." He said quickly as he rushed out of the room towards Abby's lab.

"Anything else, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes, well, look here." Ducky said moving up towards the head of the body. He pointed directly at her lips.

"Do you see the slight smudging of her lipstick here?"

Gibbs nodded, "Yeah."

"Well, I believe that after she died, the last act of passion the killer could have fulfilled was a kiss goodbye. I attempted to get a viable DNA sample and sent it up to Abby. She should have the results at any moment.

"Thanks Duck." Gibbs said simply as he started walking out of the room.

"Hey, Jethro." Ducky stopped him.

"Yes?" Gibbs asked, turning around to face him.

"How is our little friend doing?" He asked, almost looking concerned.

Gibbs gave a small, half smile. "She's doing okay. I wouldn't be surprised if her and Abby kept in touch after this thing is over."

"Good…good." Ducky responded softly.

"You okay, Duck?"

"Yes, it's just that… has she exhibited any emotion towards what happened to her foster mother? Tears, perhaps?"

"Well, no tears from what I've seen, but she did talk about her a little bit last night."

"Did you ever get the notion that she blames herself?" Ducky asked, getting to the heart of what he wanted to talk about.

"Well, yeah. But that's normal, isn't it?"

"Yes, but not to this degree."

"What are you thinking, Duck?"

"I'm thinking… that she is blaming herself to the point where she feels as if she needs to make it right. To let herself off the hook, if you will. Which means-"

"Revenge…" Gibbs muttered.

"Precisely…"


	3. Faded Fingerprints

Two days went by. Gibbs and Ducky were keeping a close eye on her, being careful to not let their opinions slip on who they thought the killer was. They had gone through lead after lead, and everyone seemed to wriggle their way out with an alibi or the evidence just didn't add all the way up.

Gibbs, Ziva, Tony and McGee were all in the bullpen, mulling over the possibilities.

"Could she have been having an affair?" DiNozzo asked. "That could explain the anger and the kiss goodbye in the end."

"No. If anyone was the cheater it was Richard." Gibbs said matter-of-factly.

"Then a secret admirer?" Ziva suggested.

"Could be. The thought of her leaving was too much for him to handle." Gibbs offered.

"So he kills her? And makes the leave permanent?" McGee asked.

"We didn't find any unidentified fingerprints in that room?" Gibbs asked.

"No boss." McGee answered. "But Richard's seemed to be older while Robyn's and Sara's were a bit more fresh."

Gibbs thought that was really odd. Why would Richard's fingerprints be in there in the first place? They hated each other.

At that moment, the phone at Gibbs' desk rang. He picked it up and said gruffly into the receiver, "Special Agent Gibbs."

The person on the other end spoke quickly and the more it went on, the darker his gaze became.

"Thank you." He said with sudden, unexpected anger as he slammed the phone down.

"Where is she?" He shouted.

"Who, boss?" DiNozzo asked timidly.

"Robyn! Who the hell do you think I mean? Where is she?"

"Probably down in Autopsy?" McGee answered quickly. They were all surprised in the sudden change, especially when the anger was directed towards Robyn. Everyone had gotten extremely close to her in the past few days. Hell, everyone loved her. Nobody could imagine even being irritated with her let alone being blind faced mad. They silently watched Gibbs stalk off to the elevator.

. . .

Robyn was listening to one of Ducky's stories, holding back a laugh as Palmer was making faces behind his back. Ducky turned around while Palmer was holding one of these ridiculous poses.

"Are you feeling well, Jimmy?" He asked in an irritated voice.

"Uh-um, yes…doctor." He said quickly, straightening up. "Just uh…holding in a sneeze."

"Well, grab a tissue then for whenever you stop making faces long enough to accomplish anything." Ducky responded, turning back to Robyn, continuing his story from where he left off, but Robyn was too busy laughing to hear him.

At that moment, the door opened and the angry Gibbs stepped through. Ducky was the first to see him. He cut off midsentence which caused Robyn's laughter to slowly fade to a frown. Ducky and Palmer looked almost fearful. Robyn turned around and saw Gibbs glaring down at her.

"Gibbs?" Robyn asked, as if wondering if it was the same person whose house she had been staying at for the past few days.

"Come with me. Now." It almost sounded like a growl.

Robyn looked back at Ducky and Palmer, confused.

"Now!" Gibbs ordered, putting a strong hand on her back, leading her forward, out of Autopsy. He was leading her to a part of NCIS that she had never been before.

"What did I do?" she asked, actually getting scared now. She felt like she was being led to the electric chair.

Gibbs didn't say a word. He opened one of the doors which opened to a small, grey room with a metal table in the middle with two chairs sitting on either side. Those were the only bit of furniture in the room. A camera was attached to the wall in one of the top corners of the room. Gibbs pulled out a chair for her which was facing a huge mirror.

"You're…interrogating me?" She asked, as she sat down and looked up at him, more confused than ever.

He still said nothing. He sat down in the chair opposite her and stared her down with his own piercing eyes.

A few seconds passed, then a few more. A whole minute must have gone by before Robyn finally snapped.

"What?" she shouted. "Whatever you think I did, I didn't!"

"So, you didn't skip school on Friday?" Gibbs asked coolly despite his heated face.

"Oh…yeah…that I did." She answered honestly.

"You said you left for school at 7."

"Well, yeah. I did. I just didn't exactly make it. What does this have to do with anything?"

"Where were you?" Gibbs asked, ignoring her own question.

"I don't know…around."

"That's not good enough!" Gibbs roared.

Robyn looked at him, unsure of what to say.

"Where were you at 10:30 Friday morning?" Gibbs asked, still shouting.

Now it was Robyn's turn to get angry. They both got to their feet, glaring each other down, both of their hands rested flat on the table.

"You're asking me if I killed her!" Robyn shouted right back.

"Did you?"

"Of course not! You know that! I don't know what the hell you're trying to pull!"

"Then where were you?"

Robyn realized she didn't have a choice. "I…I was at the retirement home!"

Now Gibbs was the one to look confused. "Why?"

She sighed heavily, frustrated. "Because." She hissed. "Before I was sent to the orphanage, I had a home. The guy who took care of me was David Porter. He got Alzheimer's when he was 64 and was lucid for long enough to know that he couldn't take care of me, so he sent me to the orphanage when I was 5 and checked himself in to the retirement home." She explained, the anger building up. "Satisfied?"

His eyes narrowed. "How did he get you?" Gibbs asked curiously.

"Not sure. He just said he found me, but I was 4 when he told me that, so I'm not sure how true that can be."

Gibbs glared at her for a moment longer, believing her immediately. Something seemed to click in his head and his gaze softened dramatically. It wasn't even related to this subject but he knew he had to do this now although he believed he would rather cut off his own hand.

"Why are Richard's fingerprints in your room?" Gibbs asked, his voice calm as he slowly sat down again. He saw the flicker of terror cross her face as she sat down after him. She buried it just as quickly as it had come.

"I don't know. I guess Sara would make him clean it sometimes when I wasn't home." She said simply.

Gibbs shook his head. "No. Sara knew that you two hated each other so she wouldn't trust him enough to go in there."

"Maybe he was the one that killed her." She suggested.

"They were nowhere around the body." Gibbs noticed her start to panic.

"Well, I couldn't tell you. Your guess is as good as mine." She feigned calm as she spoke, disguising her trembling fingers by twirling the old compass around and around in her hands. She had taken it out of her pocket only a few moments ago.

"Is it?" He knew. He just didn't know why he didn't see it before.

"Yeah. I mean, he was always accusing me of stealing his stuff. Maybe he was in there looking for his watch or something."

"Robyn…"

"What, Gibbs?" She snapped, her temper slowly rising to her defense. "You asked me what you needed to know, and I understand that. I shouldn't have lied to you, but now you are digging in to business that isn't yours."

"You don't have to go back there if you would just work with me." He said calmly.

"Work with you on what? Nothing is happening! I'm fine!" She lied forcefully. "Besides, all you're supposed to do is catch a killer, not badger me about my home life. You're busy making something out of nothing! All you found were fingerprints which could be there for any reason whatsoever. You're just jumping to conclusions!"

"So, to prove me wrong, you would be willing to take a few tests?" Gibbs asked, never breaking eye contact.

There was a long pause. The look of betrayal carved on Robyn's face hit him hard.

"I don't have to prove anything to you." She said in almost a whisper.

"But you wish you could."

She got to her feet, glaring at him. "I'm done here. I'm done with your accusations, I'm done with your questions, and I'm done with _you_." The fear of Gibbs finding out the truth hid beneath these harsh words.

Gibbs didn't react. He just watched her make her way to the door which he had intentionally left slightly ajar so it wouldn't lock. She walked out without another word which Gibbs was grateful for.

. . .

Robyn left NCIS after that. She ended up back at Gibbs' house, locking herself in 'her room' where she refused to leave. She didn't want to run the risk of bumping in to him, afraid that he would start asking her more questions.

A few hours went by before there was a knock on her door. She didn't respond.

"You hungry?" Gibbs asked, just wanting some sort of communication with her.

"No." She responded coldly. Her voice was muffled through the door.

"Are you at least going to come out?"

"No."

He sighed. "Alright, suit yourself."

"I will!" She shouted childishly. Gibbs just walked away from the door.

This went on for another day before Gibbs was finally fed up. He went down to the basement and stacked a bunch of his tools and old pieces of scrap wood up that would be sure to make a lot of noise. It took a few minutes, but when he was finally satisfied, he kicked the pile over, sending everything crashing to the ground, making a hellish noise. It didn't take long before he heard the quick footsteps a floor above him. The basement door flung open, followed by a frantic shout.

"Gibbs? Are you okay?" She descended the stairs, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw him standing behind the boat.

"Nice to see you again." Gibbs said with a crooked smile. He knew that she still cared.

She looked confused as she continued to the bottom of the stairs, her feet making the transition onto the basement floor.

"You did that on purpose?" She asked, angry more at herself right now than at him.

"Yep."

She just sat down on a stool and waited.

"Is the reason you don't want to talk to me because you knew I was right?" Gibbs asked, continuing to work on the boat. He was rewarded with more silence.

"That's what I thought." He said with a sigh. "How often does it happen?"

"Gibbs… don't do this." She pleaded, finally making eye contact.

"You know this is important…"

"Important to who?"

"You." He answered. His voice was kind and careful.

"No it's not! I don't care!" She lied.

"Do you really want to go back? Cause that's what's going to happen after this case is over. We can help you."

"I don't want your help!"

"Well, you certainly can't help yourself." He countered.

"Just shut up! Okay? You don't understand!"

"Enlighten me." Gibbs said calmly.

"I was alone! When Sara took me in, it was one of the best days of my life. I couldn't let that one little setback ruin everything… Sara never knew, so I kept it that way, afraid that she was going to get rid of me if she found out. So, I accepted that that was the cost of having a family. I just wanted to be happy." She glared at the ground, trying so hard not to think at all.

"But you were miserable."

"Of course I was miserable!" She shouted. "But what was I supposed to do? Throw away the good things I had just because of him? Then he would have won. And I'm sure tired of losing."

Gibbs watched her for a moment. "To you, losing is living in an orphanage? And winning is living with a man who-"

"Don't, Gibbs… Just don't."

There weren't many men who Gibbs truly hated on the same level as Richard Frost. The only two that really came to mind right now were Ari, Ziva's half brother, and Pedro Hernandez, Shannon and Kelly's killer. Both were now dead.

. . .

Things were back to normal, except the short break that Robyn had from school was now over. Gibbs dropped her off early in the morning before reporting to NCIS headquarters.

Everyone knew they were getting dangerously close to who the killer was. It felt like it was just staring them in the face. McGee was the first one to connect the dots.

"Of course!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "It was Richard Frost!"

"Explain yourself Elf Lord!" DiNozzo responded. McGee's sudden outburst had nearly given him a heart attack.

Ignoring Tony, McGee explained, "I can't believe we didn't think of this before. He hated Robyn. He _did_ know that Sara was leaving. Robyn was the only one left in the dark. Think about it. She was supposed to be gone. He heard movement coming from Robyn's room and decided that it was the perfect time to kill her."

"He was afraid Robyn would tell now that Sara was leaving…" Gibbs said quietly.

"What, boss?" DiNozzo asked, confused.

"Nothing. Go on McGee."

He nodded and continued. "Since Robyn skips school on what seems to be a regular basis, he truly believed it was her. I bet all the money I have that if you go through the knife drawer, you'll find one with a missing tip. He went in without touching anything. She turned, seeing him with a knife. He couldn't talk himself out of it, so he had no choice. He stabbed her four times and finished by leaving her with a kiss. Remember how he was screaming at Robyn, saying it was her fault Sara was dead? Well, he believes it was her fault because she wasn't there." The explanation faded as it reached the end, becoming dark and filled with uncharacteristic loathing.

"No one breathes a word of this to Robyn." Gibbs ordered. "Not until we have him. DiNozzo, Ziva, go pick him up."

They wasted no time. They grabbed their gear and were off.

Gibbs checked his watch, cursing under his breath. "McGee, can you pick up Robyn from school? It let out half an hour ago."

"On it." McGee said, jumping to his feet and accompanied Tony and Ziva to the elevator.

What no one realized was that Robyn had just gotten to the headquarters from school. She overheard the conversation from a few cubicles away. She ducked behind one of them as the three agents passed. After a few minutes, she left the building behind them, but once outside, went in a completely different direction.

She knew that he wouldn't have stayed at that house. But she did know exactly where he would go.


	4. The Compass

Half an hour passed before McGee was calling Gibbs on his cell phone, suppressing his panic until it was fully justified.

"Yeah, McGee?" Gibbs answered.

"Is Robyn with you?" McGee asked quickly.

Gibbs' jaw clenched. "No. You mean she's not at school?"

"No. The person that I talked to said she left over an hour ago."

"Okay. Well, we are just going to have to find her."

"Boss?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't think she heard…do you?" McGee asked, his voice thick with worry.

"I don't know…" Gibbs' phone beeped as DiNozzo was calling him. "Just keep looking." Was all the advice he offered McGee as he clicked over while grabbing his gear and began rushing to his car.

"Hello?" Gibbs said into the receiver.

"Frost wasn't at his house. All his stuff was gone, so we thi- Ziva, watch the road!" Tony screamed.

Gibbs heard Ziva say in the distance, "I know how to drive, Tony."

"He's still in town." Gibbs said quickly, ignoring their bickering.

"How do you know, boss?" Tony asked, becoming quiet, listening for his answer.

"Because, wherever he is, so is Robyn."

There was silence for a while. "She heard?" He asked, his voice so quiet that Gibbs barely heard him.

"That's the theory."

"We're on it boss. We'll get him."

"I know we will, DiNozzo. Look everywhere, and find him soon." Gibbs hung up as he jumped into his car. He shoved the key into the ignition, turning it sharply and listened to the engine roar to life. He peeled out of the parking garage, wasting no time.

As he drove, he dialed Robyn's number, putting the phone to his ear. It rang 5 times before going to voicemail. He repeated the process 3 more times, getting the same result with each attempt except on the final one. That time it didn't even ring. It went straight to her voicemail. She had turned her phone off.

Cursing loudly he dialed the number to the Forensics Lab and heard Abby's voice after the second ring. For that, he was extremely grateful.

"Hey Gibbs!" She said, practically hearing the smile through the phone.

"Abby, Robert Frost isn't at his house. I need you to narrow down the places where he could be. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, Gibbs." She answered. He heard the smile leave her face. "Is everything okay?"

"We think Robyn is looking for him. She might have already found him." Gibbs explained quickly.

"Oh God…. Okay. I'm on it."

Gibbs hung up. The first place he drove was to his own house, just making sure that she hadn't just gone there after school. With little surprise, he saw that she wasn't there. He even checked the retirement home she had been talking about. No luck there either. This seemed to be the final confirmation that Robyn was in fact doing something stupid.

. . .

Everyone had looked everywhere they could think of. Finally, the call from Abby came in.

"Gibbs. I think I might know where Frost is."

"Where, Abby?" He asked in what was bordering on a shout.

"He has recently been trying to sell a house that's practically gone off the grid. Nobody has bought it, but the listing for it is gone from everything. The woman who owned it died, so no one is really missing it. Since he is a realtor, it makes sense that he would be hiding out there. The address is 421 Mountain Gate Drive." She said quickly.

"Thanks, Abby." Gibbs said, but still unable to find relief.

"Gibbs. Please don't let her get hurt." Abby begged. Abby and Robyn especially had become close friends.

"I won't Abbs." Gibbs said, his voice soft as he flipped his phone shut and spun the car around, speeding towards the address. He called the team while he was on the way there and they were all heading towards it as fast as they could.

. . .

It felt like it took forever to get there. Gibbs stomped on the breaks when he saw the numbers 421. The front right tire skidded onto the grass. He jumped out of the car, seeing McGee already at the door, gun drawn. He looked back at Gibbs who gave a quick nod as he was running up the lawn. McGee kicked open the door and quickly cleared the room before Gibbs came thundering in. They split up. The house was a good size, being in a rich part of town. It didn't take long before Gibbs found the two of them. It was the sound of a struggle that drew him to the area. As he stepped in the doorway of the room, aiming his gun at Frost, he saw the cause of all the noise.

There wasn't any furniture in the room so the blood stains on the floor were easy to catch, even at a glance. Gibbs was just in time to see Robyn hit Frost as hard as she could in the gut which caused the same knife that had killed Sara Frost go flying out of his hand. It skidded across the floor behind him, hitting the wall. Frost then, in a fit of rage, shoved her, causing her foot to land in a small puddle of blood. Her foot slipped out from under her and she landed hard on her back. Frost scrambled to get the knife; his fingers wrapping tightly around the handle and turned to face Robyn who was now already back on her feet.

"Drop the knife!" Gibbs shouted before the two of them got too close to each other.

They both looked at him, neither having noticed he was there. Frost quickly dropped the knife, letting it clatter onto the floor, creating in eerie sound. Gibbs looked back at Robyn. He immediately saw where the blood had come from. Her left cheek was slashed open, blood dripping down her face, off her chin and onto her once white, deep V-neck shirt, staining it dark red. Her right hand also sported a nasty cut. When he looked back at Richard, he saw that he wasn't it too good of condition either. His left eye was black and swollen shut. His lip was bleeding profusely. They were both breathing heavily like they had been running five miles.

McGee came running in at that moment, is gun also aimed at Richard's chest. His eyes flashed to Robyn, going wide for a moment in shock, but forced them over back on Frost.

"Robyn. Come, now." Gibbs ordered, gun still pointing at Frost.

"But, Gibbs, I-"

"Now!"

Gibbs had never heard Robyn so angry before. Even in the interrogation room. Then she had been angry, sure. But what he heard was blinding, unsurpassable rage. He didn't even know she was capable of it. But of course when he found out whom Shannon and Kelly's killer was he didn't know he was capable of that kind of anger either. Not making eye contact with either him or McGee, she walked just outside of the room, waiting.

Frost decided to take that moment to bail and he sprinted out the back door followed by Gibbs. His foot barely touched the grass of the back yard before he was tackled hard to the ground by a much younger and fitter DiNozzo. Ziva was behind them, gun aimed at Frost's face. Tony quickly read Frost his rights and pulled his arms back, putting them in handcuffs with the same degree of gentleness as a lion mauling a zebra, causing him to let out whimpers of pain.

"Suck it up, Dick." DiNozzo said with an air of triumph as he jerked Frost onto his feet roughly.

. . .

Robyn sat on the front steps of the house, watching as Richard was forced into the car by Ziva. She couldn't help thinking about how unfair this whole thing was. She had just needed a few more minutes…

"Out of all the stupid stunts you could have pulled." McGee's voice came from behind her. He moved to sit on the step just below the one she had claimed.

"I know…" She said mechanically.

"No you don't." He said with what was almost a laugh. "I don't even think you realize what you did."

"I didn't do anything wrong."

"You put yourself in danger." McGee corrected.

"It was my choice."

"Drinking and driving is a choice too. That doesn't make it intelligent.

"I'm not drunk."

"No, but you are angry. It's the same thing." Ziva had come up through the yard, joining the conversation.

"Exactly." McGee said simply. "You're so caught up in this that you aren't thinking."

"What is there to think about?" She said, her frustration rising steadily.

"Well, first off," DiNozzo came up the steps with his cell phone about a foot away from his ear, but everyone could hear the voice clearly.

"IS SHE OKAY? YOU GOT HER? WHERE IS SHE? TONY! DID YOU GET FROST? SHE IS OKAY ISN'T SHE?" The voice on the phone was frantic and inconsolable.

"you should start thinking about Abby." Tony finished his sentence, handing her the phone. "She's a little worried." Tony said sarcastically. It sounded like Abby was about to burst. Robyn couldn't even put the phone to her ear for a few seconds until Abby paused to take a breath.

"Abby? Hey, I'm okay."

"THANK GOD! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? ARE YOU OKAY? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE ALIVE!-"

It went on like this for a good two minutes before she finally started to calm down.

"Yeah, I'm okay. But I'm starting to worry about you a little bit." She said with a crooked smile.

"I won't believe you until I see you! Tony said that you were hurt! Is that true?"

"It's nothing serious. Really, it's just a scratch."

Before Abby could start screaming again, Gibbs came up and took the phone.

"She'll see you soon, Abbs." Gibbs said quickly, hanging up. He looked down at Robyn, tossing DiNozzo his phone.

"Well, come on." Gibbs grumbled.

"Where?" Her voice was shaky. She knew Gibbs was mad, she just wasn't what he was going to do about it.

"Hospital." He said calmly. "You need stitches." He started walking to the car.

Robyn looked around at the team for a moment, like she was looking for guidance.

"I would go. Like, right now." Tony suggested.

"Before the car starts." McGee chimed in.

"Or before he drives off." Ziva was the last one to speak before Robyn finally got to her feet and jogged to the car. She got there just after Gibbs shut his own door.

. . .

They rode in silence for a while before finally Gibbs spoke.

"You realize that was stupid, right?"

"I've been told."

"I asked if you realized it. I don't care what other people told you. I care that you understand how stupid that was."

Robyn huffed. "Well, you all found him. I don't see what the problem is."

"What if we hadn't? That is the problem, Robyn." Gibbs said, his own temper rising.

"I would have been fine."

"Really? Cause to me it looked like he was waiting for you to get close enough to he could actually kill you. But what do I know? I'm just the outsider who happens to be a trained field agent trying to keep you safe because you have no regard for your own life."

There was a pause.

"Well?"

"I don't know what you want me to say, Gibbs!"

"Don't tell me what I want to hear! Tell me what you're thinking!"

"Fine! You act like you're my father! You're not! I did fine without one for years, so I don't know what makes you think that I need one now!"

"I treat you like I would any one of my team." Gibbs said, trying to quiet himself down a little.

"I'm not your team." She stared out the window, not wanting to look at him anymore.

"Why are you so determined to push everyone away?"

"In case you haven't noticed, it's over. Frost is in jail, Sara is dead. The worst part is, being with NCIS has been amazing. I love everyone there, but it's over. I have to go Lord knows where and that's going to be it."

Now Gibbs understood. He had completely forgotten that once the case was over, she would have to leave. He took a deep breath looking over at her bloody face. Tears were in her eyes, but like always, they did not fall.

"You know, you cry in your sleep." Gibbs said softly.

"What?"

"You cry in your sleep." He said with a shrug. "I think it's the only reason you're still sane. Everybody has to do it sometime. Otherwise, they lose what makes them human." To his relief, he heard her laugh.

"You're one to talk." She said, finally peeling her eyes away from the window. "You don't exactly look like the crying type. Course, you never looked completely sane either."

"Exactly. Perfect example." He said with his crooked smile.

. . .

Gibbs sat with Robyn in the hospital, who was only there to get her face and hand patched up. She sat on the table where the nurse was working on her, tapping her fingers slightly, trying to ignore the fact that she was literally being sewn up. She never liked the thought of it.

"Where is your compass?" Gibbs asked curiously. Whenever she was nervous, she always fiddled with that thing. It was weird seeing her just tapping her fingers like that.

"Abby has it." She said simply.

"Hold still." The nurse hissed. She wasn't exactly a nice, young health giver. More of the old, bitter, might kill you in your sleep kind. Robyn was just happy she was just in here for stitches.

"Why does Abby have it?"

"Cause she's helping me with something."

"Hold still!" The nurse demanded again. Gibbs couldn't help but smile at the nurse's frustration and neither could Robyn.

"What is she helping you with?" He continued with the conversation.

"You kno-" She wasn't even able to finish her sentence before the nurse flung her hands up in defeat, spinning around on Gibbs.

"Would you like to be the one to give her stitches?" The nurse asked angrily.

"No, bu-"

"Well, if you would stop asking her questions, which she clearly doesn't have the capacity not to answer, then you won't have to!"

Robyn burst out laughing, but cut herself off quickly as the nurse turned once again to face her, getting back to work. Turns out, when she and Gibbs weren't talking to each other, it went pretty smoothly.

"So, what you're saying is, I don't get a lollipop?" Robyn asked, now trying her hardest to get on the nurse's nerves, which she would never dare do if she actually had to spend the night in this hospital.

"Why don't nurses wear those hats anymore? You know? The ones with the red crosses on them? They were pretty cool. I think you could bring them back. Go down in hospital history or something like that."

"You. May. Leave. Right. Now!" The nurse shouted, her face only a few inches from Robyn's.

"Okay." She said with a smile. "Next time I need stitches, you'll be the first one I call."

"Hopefully you're unconscious." The nurse skulked off, eager to get away from the both of them.

"Well, I think she was really nice." Robyn said with a smile.

Gibbs smiled slightly. "You sure made an impression."

"I do what I can."

"So what is Abby helping you with?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh, she's just doing me a favor. That's all."

"What kind of a favor?"

Robyn sighed. "She said that she might be able to use the compass to figure out who my parents are."

Gibbs looked surprised. "I thought you had already decided what your parents were like."

"Well, yeah. But on the off chance that they are still alive and maybe nice people…I just want to know. Even just their names would be okay with me…"

They walked out of the hospital together. After a while, Gibbs said, "Good. I think with the circumstances what they are, it'll be good for you to find out where you came from."

"Yeah. I think so too." She said simply.

Gibbs was just happy that she had something to keep her mind occupied. He didn't want her to think too much about all that had happened in the last few days. Hell, in the last few years. This would be a nice change for her. He hoped beyond hope that her parents were the nicest people that ever existed, and both were alive and well and just looking for their long lost daughter. But Gibbs knew better. That ending just wouldn't fit.

. . .

Meanwhile, back at NCIS, Abby was steadily working upholding her word that she would find Robyn's parents. She was getting absolutely nowhere. With a heavy, tired sigh, she set the compass up on a high metallic shelf where it would be safe. She was trying to figure out what she needed to do. She needed to just go at it a different way. The lab doors slid open and McGee walked through.

"What's got you all worked up?" He asked.

"I promised Robyn that I would find her parents, and now I'm not sure that I can."

"Aren't there birth records? Anything?"

"No! It's like she popped out of thin air! Just appeared one day at the doorstep of some guy named David Porter."

"That's not her father?"

"Nope. He was just the guy who found her when she was about 1 years old." She was frustrated. She wasn't watching as McGee leaned on the shelf, causing it to shake slightly. She hadn't noticed how close she put the compass to the edge, but just that little shake sent it falling to the hard ground.

"McGee!" Was all she had time to yell before it hit the ground just right, sending the back flying off of it. They both scrambled to pick up the contents. They were surprised when all that had fallen out was a piece of folded up paper.

"A secret compartment?" McGee asked as he picked up the backing. Abby had picked up the paper and was already unfolding it.

"Why wouldn't she have told me it was here?"

"I guess she didn't know?"

Abby read the writing on the paper. Halfway through, he hands started to shake. She finally finished the letter and looked up at McGee.

"No. She didn't know. Nobody knew." Abby said, her voice almost a whisper.

McGee took the paper and read it himself. By the time he finished, his eyes were wide and his mouth gaping.

"Oh my God…"


	5. Jethro

_Dear Jethro,_

_I can't even tell you how much Kelly and I miss you. It feels like you've been gone for so much longer than you have. But I have news. When you left, I was 2 months pregnant. You have another child Jethro. A baby girl. Her name is Robyn. She was born on February 17th 1991. I can't wait for you to meet her. She has your eyes. Kelly loves being the big sister. All we need is you and we have the perfect family. Be safe and don't forget the rules._

_Love, _

_Shannon, Kelly and Robyn_

_. . ._

"What do we do?" McGee asked as he looked over at Abby. She was in the same condition he was. Both hardly realizing where they were.

"I mean, what are the odds? This is insane!" He finished.

"I don't know! It's great news, isn't it?" Abby said, so excited that she was practically vibrating.

"Of course it is! But, how are we supposed to tell them? If I were either one of them, I would think you were crazy."

"There are tests to confirm it McGee." Abby said with a bright smile. "And I don't think Gibbs would doubt the writing of…of Shannon." She could hardly believe what she was saying.

They seemed to make the silent decision to talk about it from a brighter point of view. It wasn't until that moment when they realized how alike the two of them were.

"The eyes!" Abby yelled. "Of course! It's like they both just look right through you, but not in the bad way. More in the, your eyes are so amazing I'm not sure I should look directly at them, kind of way."

"Tempers." McGee said with a slight laugh.

"Not sure what you're talking about McGee." Abby said truthfully.

"Well, Gibbs never snaps at you. He does the rest of us." He explained. "And they can really butt heads. You've never noticed? They went a whole day not saying a word to each other, and when they did, it was like reliving World War I."

"No way. I don't believe you." She replied with a grin.

"Fine. You'll see." McGee let it rest. "Have you noticed the smile?"

"The famous Gibbs crooked smile! Yes!"

"Looks like Shannon, acts like Gi-" McGee cut himself off as the lab doors slid open. Both Robyn and Gibbs walked in. Robyn had a patch over her cheek and a bandage on her injured hand.

Abby had completely forgotten about the whole Frost thing when the letter was discovered. When she saw her, reality almost knocked her off her feet. Without missing a beat, she ran over to Robyn, hugging her as tight as she could.

"You said it was just a scratch, you liar!" She said, letting go of her, looking from her hand to her face.

"It's really not that bad, Abby." She said with a grin. "It just stings a little. That's all." It actually stung a lot.

Suddenly remembering the letter, she looked back at McGee, who to her relief was already snapping the back of the compass back on.

"Are you alright Abbs?" Gibbs asked, noticing her acting a little jumpy.

Abby was too busy looking back and forth from Robyn to Gibbs to hear him. The exact same eyes.

"Abbs!"

"Yes, Gibbs?"

"I asked if you were okay."

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"That's what I'm wondering."

Robyn had wandered over to McGee, the two of them having a normal conversation, which was becoming increasingly more difficult for him and Abby.

"We got a little bit of a breakthrough on Robyn's parents." Abby whispered.

"Really? What did you find?" Gibbs asked.

"I…I can't tell you yet." She answered, having to almost physically restrain herself from talking.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Alright. Well, I have to take care of a few things. If you're sure everything's okay."

"Yes, yes Gibbs! Everything is fine. Go ahead!" She nearly pushed him out the door. If he stayed in any longer, she would have caved and told him everything. She walked back to McGee and Robyn where Robyn got one more lecture on why what she did was stupid.

She was barely listening, more preoccupied with looking at all the technology that was in the room. It was interesting, but she would never want to learn how to work any of it. Finally, Robyn decided that she didn't want to wait anymore.

"Did you find anything?"

Abby went totally quiet.

"No." McGee said much too quickly.

Robyn looked at the both of them. "You guys really are acting weird." She said, giving them what almost looked like the Gibbs stare.

McGee let out what seemed to be a mix between a laugh and a shout. He tried to cover it up with a loud coughing fit, but Robyn didn't believe it for a second.

"Okay. You guys are being extremely insane. I'm gonna let you get back to whatever you were doing."

Abby opened her mouth to speak.

"No!" Robyn said quickly. "I really don't want to know what you all are up to. It looks pretty personal. I'll talk to you guys later." She said with her crooked smile which made McGee almost have another outburst before Abby elbowed him hard in the stomach.

Robyn left the room quickly. She always thought that McGee and Abby would be great together, so she just thought that they had figured that out too and she didn't want to disrupt it.

. . .

Robyn had spent the rest of the day with Ducky and Palmer. To her great relief, neither of them told her how reckless she had been, but Ducky's eyes said everything. She wasn't sure which was worse. When the day was finally over, Gibbs came down to Autopsy to get her.

It was her last night that she would be spending in that house. She walked inside and they spent most of the night working on the boat. This time they didn't stop talking to each other. A lot of it was just casual and just for laughs, but the rest of it were conversations that neither of them would forget.

It was almost 2 in the morning before Robyn decided to go to sleep. Gibbs nodded as she climbed the stairs and heard her footsteps all the way to her room. It wasn't until an hour later that he followed. As he walked passed her door, he heard the sound that had become familiar. She was crying again. That was the only way Gibbs ever knew she was really asleep.

Gibbs walked into the room, seeing her dark figure curled up on the bed. He had to let his eyes adjust to the darkness before he could step and farther into the room. He was finally standing beside her. Trying to wake her up gently, he placed a hand on her shoulder. Before he knew it, she had practically leaped away from him, sitting bolt upright on the foot of the bed. Even in the total darkness, he could tell that her eyes were locked on him.

"Just go away, Richard!" She pleaded. "Go away!"

Gibbs immediately turned on the lamp that sat on the bedside table.

"Robyn? Do you know where you are?" His voice was soothing and warm, trying to get her to realize that he wasn't Richard.

For a moment, confusion plagued her face. He watched as recognition slowly started to dawn on her, but the fear remained.

"Gibbs?" She asked, not even noticing the tears that were drying on her cheeks. Her patch was even slightly damp from them.

"Yeah."He said simply. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" She asked, yet the question seemed to be forced. Her throat was so tight that everything she said was difficult to get out.

"Well, I don't know. But you called me Richard. Does that have anything to do with it?"

Her jaw was set. "Why are you in here?" She ignored his question completely.

"Because, it's not normal to cry in your sleep every night."

"You said it kept me sane. It's not like I can help it anyway." She was frustrated, doing her best not to look at him.

"You know he's gone right?" Gibbs asked.

"So? That doesn't mean that I get everything back that he took. It just means that I don't have to look at him again."

"But the damage is done…" Gibbs said evenly.

"Exactly. And you can't help me, so there isn't a point in talking about it." She lay down with her back facing him, expecting him to leave. She felt a warm hand on her arm but still refused to look at him. Gibbs was surprised to feel that she was trembling. She was scared to death of Richard even though there was no way he could ever get to her again.

She shrugged his hand away, in hopes that he didn't notice. Gibbs wished he could just be in a room alone with that man for just a few minutes. Richard would never be able to hurt another living soul for the rest of his life it Gibbs had his way.

Gibbs kneeled down, his arms resting on the side of the bed.

"Look at me." He said quietly.

After a few seconds, Robyn rolled over to face him, a fresh tear falling from her left eye, across the bridge of her nose before dripping onto the pillow.

"You listen to me." Gibbs ordered as he put a gentle, fatherly hand on her face, careful to avoid the patch. "As long as I'm living, nobody will ever hurt you. I don't care where you are. I'm going to protect you. Got it?"

"But-"

"Got it?" He asked again, more forcefully this time.

For some reason, Robyn believed every word he said. "Got it…" She said finally.

He gave her a crooked smile which she then returned.

"Good night." He said as he took his hand away. He turned off the lamp, letting his eyes adjust for a moment before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

A few hours later, he returned to her door. He didn't hear crying. He assumed that meant that she was awake so he just sighed and walked away from the door, starting up the coffee maker.

In truth, Robyn had never been more asleep in her life. It was the first night in years where she didn't have to cry because she knew that she was safe.

Robyn had gotten up not too long after that. She was at the table, drinking a cup of coffee with Gibbs. Neither of them said much, since today was the day she was supposed to be leaving. She didn't have the heart to pack her stuff yet. That would just make everything final.

Then, there was a knock on the door. They both looked confused. She wasn't supposed to be picked up until later in the evening. It was only 7 o'clock in the morning right now.

"It's unlocked!" Gibbs called from the table. The door burst open and Abby came running through. She closed it quickly behind her before trying to keep her composure while walking towards the two of them.

"Gibbs! I need to talk to you." She said quickly.

"How many Caf-Pows have you had today Abby?"

"That's not important right now." She answered loudly. "What is important, is this little bit of news that I have for you." She was grinning now.

"Well, what is it?" He asked, becoming impatient.

Abby just motioned towards Robyn. Gibbs understood, but before he could say anything, Robyn beat him to it.

"I'll be in the car." She said as she walked outside, knowing for some reason, Abby didn't want her to know the news.

. . .

"Now Gibbs," Abby started, becoming very serious. "Yesterday, me and McGee were trying to figure things out about Robyn's parents."

"Right. You know who they are?"

"It's really important that you don't jump ahead of me on this one, Gibbs." She said as she took a deep breath. "Okay, so we were doing that, and the compass fell. The back broke off. We thought we broke it but it turned out to be a secret compartment."

She paused. Gibbs let her gather herself, able to see that the point of the story was coming up. Finally, she continued.

"Inside, we found a small slip of paper and…well…" She dug into her pocket, retrieving the paper and handing it to him. "You should just read it. See for yourself."

Gibbs just stared at Abby for a moment. "This is why you were so worked up yesterday?"

"Yes! Read it!" Abby said quickly, unable to contain herself.

Gibbs unfolded the paper, knowing he was under crucial watch by Abby. He immediately recognized the writing and his stomach lurched in response to the sudden ache he felt in his heart.

"Why would she have a letter from Shannon?" Gibbs asked, still not even reading the first line.

"It's not too her Gibbs. Just keep reading. We'll talk when you're done." He voice was calmer now.

He looked back down at the paper and continued to read. When he was finished, it took him a while to remember how to breathe.

Just then, Robyn walked through the front door.

"Sorry to interrupt guys, but I'm going to be late for sch-" She stopped herself, noticing the look on Gibbs' face. They were both staring at her. "Nevermind." She said quickly. "The whole team is out here, so I can just get one of them to take me. Take all the time you need." She hadn't even closed the door, Gibbs grabbed the handle, stopping her. She turned around and before she even knew what happened, he had her locked in the tightest hug she had ever experienced.

"I didn't know." Gibbs said quickly which only made Robyn even more worried.

"It's okay Gibbs, really." She said, struggling to breathe. "I was only in the car for 10 minutes. I can get someone else to take me if you're busy."

"You aren't going today!" Gibbs said, finally releasing her.

Now she was just scared. "Are you on drugs?"

Gibbs just laughed a little. "No. Not drugs."

"Cocaine is a drug Gibbs. Drugs kill."

"Are you saying you want to go to school?"

"As of right now? You are scaring me into it."

Abby was almost in tears, but Robyn couldn't tell that it was because she was so happy.

"Is somebody dead?" Robyn asked, getting scared.

"No, no. Nobody is dead." Gibbs said with a smile. He just kept looking at her. He knew she had looked familiar, he just blocked out how familiar she was. Just like Kelly. Just a bit older and with a completely different personality.

"Then why are you acting weird? Both of you!"

"Because!" Abby ran through the story, just like she had with Gibbs, who didn't realize the letter was still being held in a death grip in his hand. At the end of the story, he had to pry it out of his fist as he handed it to her.

She read through it quickly before asking,

"Who's Jethro?"


	6. The Return

"I'm Jethro. Leroy Jethro Gibbs." He said softly.

She just stared at him like he was insane.

"I was married to Shannon and we had a daughter named Kelly. I was overseas when they-" He stopped. He knew that Robyn got the gist of the story. "I didn't know about you." He said, hoping that she would believe him. "If I had, I would have never given you up. You would have been here this whole time. I don't know how you slipped passed me."

She looked out the door. McGee, Tony, Ziva, Ducky and Palmer were all there. They were standing at the end of the lawn, waiting impatiently, wanting so much to just run up and see what was going on. Robyn looked back at Abby, then at Gibbs. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Gibbs knew that she was having trouble figuring out how to react. He gave her the time that she needed.

"But I…you…here." She had so many things she wanted to say and they were all trying to come out at once. Finally, the only thing she could manage to say was, "So does this mean… I don't have to pack?"

Gibbs laughed and Abby finally burst into a tidal wave of tears. Robyn and Gibbs both went to comfort her, unable to help being the slightest bit amused.

Robyn had never been happier in her life. She had been home for over a week and she hadn't even known it. But, there was still the sadness tearing at her. She just wished that it would go away. She wished that she didn't have to always focus on the bad end of a good thing.

"Stop blocking the door, Tony!" Ziva yelled, trying to push by him along with McGee who was just behind her.

"I can't move because you are pushing me into the doorjamb, Ziva!"

The bickering went on for almost a whole minute before Ziva gave one final shove and Tony went flying into the house, followed by everyone else. For hours it seemed like a party was going on. Everyone wore a smile the entire time. They had taken off work to be there, but they were still on call of course.

McGee made his way over to Robyn a while later and stood there for a second.

"Something bothering you?" He asked casually.

She looked surprised. "Of course not. What could be better than this?" She asked, her smile forced now.

"I think you have something in mind."

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just always kinda knew that my mom was dead. But…I never knew I had a sister. So, it's fresh… you know?"

McGee nodded. "Yeah. That sucks…"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Good talk, Tim."

He smiled. "What I'm trying to say is, don't think about it like that."

"How am I supposed to think about it?"

McGee was quiet for a long time until finally, he asked, "Could you tell me what you think a brother is like?"

"A brother?" She asked, feeling like this really wasn't pertinent to anything. "Well, a brother is someone who likes to mess with you and make you mad, but they always stick up for you when you really need them, I guess."

"Okay. Now a sister?"

"The person who you can talk to about anything. When you just want to rant when you're mad or joke with when you're bored." She still looked confused as McGee smiled.

"Okay. Without thinking, tell me who is the first person you go to with anything."

"What?"

"Just don't think. Answer the question. First name that comes to mind."

"I can't."

"Why not?" McGee asked, as if he was expecting this answer.

"Because, I go to whoever is closest. Tony, Ziva, Jimmy, Ducky, Abby, Gibbs and you."

"Alright. And who do you think would drop everything if you needed help?"

"Same answer…" She said as she started to smile. She understood where he was going with this.

"We are a little unconventional, but we are closer than most families out there. And you aren't going to find a more classical grandfather than Ducky. He has stories to last until you're as old as him."

She laughed. "Alright. I'll take it." She said brightly. For the first moment in her life, nothing was eating at her. Everything was perfect and she was happy. Her and McGee just talked and laughed for a while and eventually Abby and Ducky came over and they all listened to one of his stories. This time, everyone seemed captivated by the story even though it did drag on and started to branch into other stories and memories just like they always did. But today it just didn't seem to matter.

Robyn wasn't sure exactly when Gibbs had ventured over to the little huddle, but she was aware of his presence when she felt a warm had on her shoulder.

When Ducky's story came to a sudden close at that phrase, "And that is how little Jumper got out of his cage." everybody decided that it was time to leave. Robyn realized that she wasn't entirely sure if Jumper was a rabbit or a dog or anything. It could have been a rhinoceros for all she knew. What she did know was that the story had started out as, "The story of Macbeth was actually written for James I, but…" And it went on from there.

This time, everyone wasn't rushing to the door, so they didn't have the problem of being squished into the doorjamb. They said their goodbyes for the day and headed off, Tony and Ziva giving each other the cold shoulder which would quickly dissolve by tomorrow morning. The door was then closed with the quiet, finalizing _click_.

"What are you thinking?" Gibbs asked, turning to look at her.

"I'm thinking, I wish I knew you a lot sooner." She said simply.

Gibbs nodded, agreeing silently. "After everything, you turned out to be a great kid." He acknowledged.

She sat down, her face turning a light shade of red. "Yeah…right." She said, trying to sound convincing. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him just yet.

Gibbs knew that she wasn't telling him something, but he also knew that he would find out eventually so he let it slide this once.

. . .

The next day, she went to school. For some reason she seemed a little more tense than usual about it. Gibbs dropped her off and watched her make her way over to a boy with dark brown hair, slightly tanned skin and deep green eyes. Gibbs didn't think twice about him. Robyn had told him that they had been friends since middle school. His name was something like Orville… Oleander… Gibbs couldn't remember. He guessed that it started with an _O_.

. . .

A week went by since the discovery, but the shock just didn't seem to wear off. Everyone had smiles on their faces almost all the time, forcing them into frowns whenever the time was obviously inappropriate. The team was working on a case of a murdered Naval Officer when Robyn got back from school. Gibbs and McGee were down with Ducky and Palmer, discussing the case. Robyn made her way to the bullpen and sat down at Gibbs' desk.

"What's up, Robinson?" Tony asked with a playful smile.

"Nothing much. Except I made the softball team, but ya know." She said with false modesty.

"That is fantastic!" Ziva chimed in, both her and Tony remembering what she had said about trying out for the school's softball team.

"What position are you playing?" DiNozzo asked, clearly excited.

"I don't know yet, but the main pitcher graduated, so I'm shooting for that. If we don't get a good one, then we're stuck with Maddie Jones. She only threw four strikes all season last year. One was just because she threw the ball too close to the batter's face so they tried to swat it away with the bat. She missed." Robyn explained.

Tony laughed.

"Are your grades up to spar?" Ziva asked.

"Par, Ziva. Up to par." Tony corrected.

Before Ziva could argue back, Robyn answered, "Well, the school doesn't really look at grades too much when it comes to sports…"

"Uh, oh." Tony said with a wince. "Gibbs isn't going to like that."

"He won't care that much…will he?" Robyn asked, getting nervous.

Ziva thought for a second. "How bad are they?"

"Well, we got report cards today…" She unfolded the paper that had been stuffed carelessly into the pocket of her jeans. She then carefully folded it into a paper airplane, throwing it towards Ziva who caught it in the air. Robyn was tense as she watched her unfold it once again and read those little letters. Tony came over and looked over her shoulder.

"Wow…" Tony said. "That's probably worse than my worst report card." He said with a grimace.

"How did you even manage this?" Ziva asked, shocked.

"It's like you have to try to get grades that bad."

"You guys aren't exactly making me feel better here." Robyn said, getting even more worried than she had been.

"You aren't giving us anything to work with here." Tony couldn't help but laugh a little. "You are in so much trouble."

She groaned.

"On the bright side, that was a great paper airplane." He smiled.

She got up and retrieved her report card. "He doesn't have to know." She said, stuffing it in her pocket once again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Tony warned. "It's better if you just tell him, cause if he finds out some other way, it's going to be worse."

"For once, I agree with Tony." Ziva said. It sounded like those words burned her throat as they came out.

"Maybe he just won't find out." She argued.

Ziva and Tony exchanged a quick look.

"He always finds out." Tony said with a shrug.

Robyn was frustrated. She wasn't used to people actually caring about the grades that she got, and so far, it was really annoying.

"What could you possibly be doing all day to get those?" Ziva asked.

"Get what, Ziva?" Gibbs asked as he entered the bullpen with amazing silence.

"Nothing boss. We were all just talking about how Robyn got onto the softball team." DiNozzo intervened.

Gibbs looked over at her and smiled. "Good job."

"Thanks." Robyn responded nervously. Tony and Ziva acted like he was superhuman and had the ability to read people's minds, which made her sink down in the chair a little more.

Gibbs noticed her acting strangely but decided to wait to say anything.

. . .

When they got home that night, Gibbs decided that it was time to talk.

"Where is it?" He asked simply.

"What?" She tried to act like she had no idea what he was talking about but she wasn't succeeding.

"Report card."

"I didn't get one." She said quickly.

"Don't lie to me."

"Gibbs, come on. It's not that important. They're just grades."

"I'm not asking you for your opinion on them. I'm telling you to hand it to me." He said coolly.

She sighed, unable to look him in the eye as she dug into her pocket for the now crumpled piece of paper. "Before I give this to you, is there any chance we can mark this down as an 'oh well, you tried. You'll do better next time' thing?"

Gibbs didn't answer. He just held his hand out. Robyn finally handed it to him, defeated.

As she watched him read through the paper, his expression didn't bring her any comfort.

"How in the hell can you fail Gym?" He asked, clearly not happy. He had been expecting bad but this was ridiculous.

"Well, apparently the teachers like it if you actually show up…" She said, nervously. "And they don't like it when you actually do show up, that you…uh…"

"That you uh, what?"

"That you…uh…call the teacher a pig-headed moronic bigot… among other things…" She admitted.

There was a pause.

"Seriously?" Gibbs said, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"Yeah… But she deserved it… Now, I'll admit I may have gone a little too far when I called her a miserable old worn out c-"

"Stop! Just stop." Gibbs interjected quickly, not wanting to hear that last word. "I don't understand how you can't shut your mouth to pass gym, but _English, _the language you are so colorful with, you manage to scrape out a B."

"Well, the teacher isn't a miserable old worn out-"

"This isn't funny, Robyn." He said plainly.

"I'm just saying!" She retorted. "English I can do! I just hate all the other stuff."

"You think the other kids do?"

"Well…no…not all of them."

"Then why do you think they pass?"

"I don't know…" She said, not sure if she should actually know the answer.

"Because they actually go to class and can control the things that come out of their mouth!"

"Why is my mouth such a bad thing?" She shouted.

"Because! I know damn well you're smart! You have no problem talking to anybody about any subject. And you're not just guessing your way through it, you _understand_ it. I never understand half of what Abby says, but you talk to her for hours just about that kind of stuff. Ducky too! You learn faster than anybody I've known. Your mom was the same way." This was the first time he had compared her to Shannon out loud. It was only the second time he brought her up with Robyn. Yet, he continued without drawing attention to it. "But because you just can't seem to keep thoughts to yourself, and don't feel like doing the work, you're failing." Although in that respect, she was like him, but he didn't want her to know that part.

This answer caught her off guard. She just stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"Now, I'm done talking about it. But if these grades don't come up, then you will have to come straight home after school. No showing up at NCIS. You understand me?"

"What?" She yelled, snapping out of her silence. "That's crazy! I love hanging out there!"

"Then get your grades up and you won't have to worry about it." He said with just a shadow of a shrug which drove Robyn insane. She had never been more determined in her life to actually do well in school, which really showed the next day.

. . .

A month later, Robyn's grades were way up. Nobody could believe the change, not even her best friend, Oliver.

"How is it that you haven't paid attention all year, but all of a sudden, you know every answer the teacher asks?" Oliver asked as they were walking out of school.

She shrugged. "It's not that I wasn't paying attention. I just didn't feel like answering."

"So you put wrong answers on your papers on purpose?"

"Yep. Pretty much along those lines. Why?"

He just laughed.

"What's funny?" She asked, confused.

"Nothing." He said with a grin. "It's just that you're probably the smartest idiot I've ever met."

She pushed him lightly with a smile. "You're so jealous."

Still grinning, he nodded. They had just walked off school grounds. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said with a short wave.

"See ya." She called back and started making her way to NCIS which was about a mile away.

"I really am jealous." This voice didn't belong to Oliver, but she recognized it immediately. Cold, gripping terror shot through her spine. She turned around, looking into the clean shaven face of Richard Frost. She opened her mouth to talk but was quickly cut off.

"Escaped." He answered her question perfectly. "I just missed you so much." He said as he reached out and put a hand on her cheek. She could almost feel the hate emanating off of him just from this simple gesture. She flinched away, trying to get her legs to respond to her brain yelling _Run! Just run!_

"Aww, come on. I thought we had no hard feelings here." He said with a mock pout. "Oh, by the way, before you get the sense to start running, you really shouldn't tell anyone about this. Not even your new daddy. You never know. He might end up being the one to pay for your screw ups. Just like Sara did." His face was only a few inches from hers. He put a finger to his lips and finished off with a "_Shhh" _

The familiar scent of hard alcohol mixed with an almost sulfuric smell brought her to her senses. Instinct allowed her to drop her book bag so she could run faster and she took off down the street.

She would never breathe a word of this encounter with anyone, unaware that this decision would haunt her until the day she died.


	7. The Liar

(A/N Sorry this took so long! It took me forever to make myself happy with it)

She ran all the way to NCIS, breathing heavily more out of fear than exhaustion. Before walking inside, she looked around, making sure that Frost wasn't around. She knew that he wouldn't be, but the thought alone was horrifying. Every step she took after that was shaky and deliberate. She finally managed to make her way to the bullpen nonetheless.

"Tough day?" DiNozzo asked as his head popped out from under his desk. This made Robyn nearly jump out of her skin.

"Jesus, Tony! What the hell are you doing?" She shouted.

"I…dropped a pencil?" Tony answered, not understanding why she was so on edge.

"Oh." She said, softly. Her face was pale and her eyes were dimmer than they usually were, like somebody was sucking the life out of her.

"Hey, you alright?" Now he was actually worried as he pulled himself back into his chair.

"What?" She asked, too focused on Frost to hear him.

"I asked if you were-"

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She lied, looking everywhere else but at him. Before he could say anything else she said, "I'm gonna go see what Abby's doing. I'll talk to you later." She said with a forced smile as she walked back to the elevator at a brisk pace. Tony just watched her go, trying to figure out what had gotten into her. Whatever it was, it must be really bad, because on a normal day, she would be spilling everything.

. . .

Robyn hardly spoke for the rest of the day. She just had a blank look on her face, pretending that she was listening when people talked to her, but nothing ever sank in. She would just nod absently.

"Gibbs, Gibbs!" Abby called as she saw him walking down a hallway. She had been looking for him for over ten minutes.

"Find something, Abbs?" He asked, holding a coffee in his hand. He thought this was strange. He usually was able to feel when Abby was on the verge of something somewhere in his famous gut.

"No, but this is important. Something is wrong with Robyn."

Gibbs face hardened. "What's the matter with her?" He asked as his stomach clenched slightly, expecting the worst.

"Well, I don't know. Nobody can get it out of her. But I talked to Tony a few minutes ago and he said the same thing. She's really jumpy, like you can't make any sudden movements. And when she's calmed down, it's like she's not even there."

"Where is she, Abby?"

"I left her down in the lab." She answered quickly.

Without another word, Gibbs was on his way to the elevator. It felt like it took forever for it to descend to the floor that was dedicated to the forensics lab. The doors slid open and he saw Robyn sitting at the counter. She wasn't moving. She was just sitting, staring at the blank screen of the computer monitor. The glass door slid open with a beep, but Robyn didn't seem to hear. He walked up to her and put a hand on her back, between her shoulder blades. He felt her flinch violently which then turned into attempted controlled trembling. He drew his hand away.

"What happened, Robyn?" His voice was firm but nice.

It took her a few seconds to answer. "Nothing." She said in almost a whisper.

Gibbs looked around for a moment. "Where is your book bag?" He hadn't noticed it at his desk which was where it usually rested until it was time to go home.

She shrugged. "I guess I left if at school." Her eyes never left the computer monitor.

"Why would you have done that?"

"Forgot it…"

"You don't forget things." Gibbs said simply.

Her expression remained stoic. "First time for everything."

"I'd prefer to hear the truth."

"I told you the truth." She lied.

"Then what's wrong with you?"

"I'm fine!" She snapped, finally looking at him. All she was trying to do was protect Gibbs. Just trying to protect her family but everyone kept pushing.

"Obviously." He said as his eyes narrowed. Now that she was looking at him, he could see how drained she looked. She looked like she did when they had first met. "You know Frost is in prison. You don't have to ever see him again." He was surprised to see those words only seemed to make her look worse. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"Okay." Was all she could manage to say. "Fine… I'm just tired." She wanted him to walk away. It was painful for him to stand there, talking about Frost like he couldn't hurt anybody when she knew that Frost was out, and no more than a few hours ago had threatened to kill Gibbs.

Gibbs knew for a fact this wasn't the problem. But he just shook his head, knowing that she wasn't going to let him help. "It's time to leave anyway. Come on." He said sternly. He watched her get to her feet and walk out without saying a word.

. . .

On the drive home, she seemed to be getting a little better. The color was starting to return to her face and she was talking a little bit more. This was very short lived as they approached the door.

"I thought you said that you left your book bag at school." Gibbs said.

"I did." She looked at him, confused.

"Then why is it there?" He pointed to the pack that was sitting on the porch. It was in fact her book bag.

Now Robyn did actually feel like she was going to be sick as she slowly walked to the bag, picking it up. It felt like it weighed 200 pounds. He had been there. He had been to the house.

"Oh." Her voice was strained. "Oliver must have dropped it off…"

"You're lying to me. I know there is something wrong. Let me help!"

"I'm the one trying to help you, Dad!"

This was the first time that she had ever called him that. Gibbs could tell by the look on her face that it had surprised her too.

"Help me with what?" He asked, knowing that she didn't want him to draw attention to what she had said.

She didn't answer. Instead, she walked inside. He followed closely behind.

"Don't walk away from me!" He snapped as he closed the door.

"Quit interrogating me! I hate it!"

"Just answer one question. Are you going to get yourself killed?"

"No…"

"You're lying to me again…"

"Just stop! I can do things on my own!"

"Except protect yourself!"

"It's not me I'm trying to protect!"

Gibbs just stared at her for a moment. Right now, he really hated the fact that she was so much like him. "Why do you think I need protecting?"

"You said one question! I answered it! I told you, I'm tired!" She started to skulk off to her room but fell short. The anger melted off her face as she turned back to look at Gibbs. Her expression was now just sad. Nothing else.

"This was Kelly's room…wasn't it?"

Gibbs didn't look at her. "Yeah. It was."

Her jaw clenched as she thought about this. "I'll see you in the morning." She said half heartedly.

"This isn't over."

"I know that." She said as she walked into the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

. . .

"Why don't you take a day off? You need it." Gibbs suggested as he was driving her to school about a week after Frost first showed up.

"No." She said firmly.

"We could go to NCIS right now and you can just hang out there all day."

"Maybe tomorrow."

"You've been saying that for the past week." He was getting frustrated. Nothing was getting through to her.

"Well, I have work I need to get done."

"That's the point of a day off."

"I don't need one."

Gibbs shook his head. "If you don't start talking, you're going to crash."

She didn't say anything after that. She wanted him to know. She wanted him to know that Frost had been meeting her after school every day for the past week.

Gibbs parked on the curb, letting her get out. "I'll see you at NCIS later then."

"Oh, I meant to tell you, I'm not coming today. I'm going to hang out with friends."

"Who?" Gibbs said quickly, a bit surprised.

"Just friends, Gibbs. You'd like them." This was a lie. She was hanging out with friends, but if Gibbs knew what kind of people they were, he would have had a heart attack before he let her go.

"Okay. You know when to be home." He trusted her. He just wished that she would stop calling him 'Gibbs.' She hadn't said the word 'dad' since that night.

. . .

Robyn's curfew was 11 o'clock. It was now 10:30. Gibbs figured that she wouldn't be home until the clock struck exactly 11 so he was still at NCIS with the team, working a case when DiNozzo's phone rang.

He flipped the phone open and in a cocky but exhausted voice he answered, "Agent DiNozzo."

"Hey, Tony," came Robyn's voice on the other line.

"Robyn?" He was surprised. Gibbs looked up from his desk at the sound of his daughter's name. He got to his feet and approached Tony, signaling him to put his phone on speaker. Tony did as he was told, a little nervous. "You alright?" He asked, holding the phone a little farther away from his face now that it was on speaker.

"Well…yeah…" She said, her voice traveling through the bullpen, Ziva and McGee also listening. "I kind of got into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Tony asked, not daring to look at Gibbs.

"I was at a party and the police showed up. Everyone bailed and me and a couple other people got…you know…sort of…arrested?"

"Oh, God…" DiNozzo let out a groan. Now he knew he could hear a little slur in her words.

"Yeah… So, I figured you would be the coolest about this and was wondering if you could bail me out? And maybe…not tell Gibbs?" She asked.

Tony finally looked up at his boss who he had never seen look so furious in his life. He signaled for Tony to say yes.

"Yeah. Of course. I'll…be right there." He said simply.

"Thanks Tony. You're the best."

"Don't mention it…" He said and he meant it. They both hung up. He hadn't even hung up before Gibbs was already in the elevator, looking like he was fit to murder.

"That kid is in some deep trouble." Tony muttered.

. . .

A guard walked to the holding cell that Robyn was in, telling her that someone had bailed her out as he opened the door. Robyn's smile fell dramatically when she saw Gibbs where Tony should have been standing.

"You're free to go." Said the guard.

"I think I wanna stay...forever." She said quickly, starting to shrink back into the confining room.

"Get your ass…here…now!" Gibbs shouted, standing at the end of the hall, near the front desk.

The guard couldn't help but laugh a little. "I would really get over there."

"Says the guy who's still going to be breathing tomorrow." She groaned as she walked slowly over to her father, too afraid to look him in the face.

They walked out of the police department, Gibbs not saying anything. He did not say a word until they stepped into the house.

"What made you think that any of that was a good idea?" He shouted.

Robyn opened her mouth but no sound came out. The sudden outburst surprised her enough to make her look him in the eyes. It was so terrifying that she was struck mute.

"Well?"

"I…I don't know…" She said quietly.

"That's not an answer! You lied to me! More than once!"

"I'm sorry…" She was actually very sincere.

"Don't apologize! It's not good enough anyway!"

"Then what is?" She didn't dare shout back at him.

"Answers! I want to know why you've decided that it's suddenly okay to lie! Why you started to hang out with these kinds of people! Why you're getting yourself in situations where you're getting arrested! And why you're scared! All the time!"

"I don't know."

"Stop lying to me!"

"I was just having fun…"

"Were you really?"

Robyn looked a little surprised and looked up at him. "No…Not really…I thought I would be…" She looked away again.

Gibbs was silent for a moment before saying, "Well now you know what kind of friends you have. And where lying gets you."

She didn't respond.

"Anything you want to tell me? About anything? Like why you've been acting like an idiot and always look scared of something?"

Again, she didn't respond. This only made him angrier.

"I trusted you tonight. Now I know that that was a mistake. Until I decide otherwise, you will come directly to NCIS after school and directly home. Nothing else. Someone will pick you up from school every day and bring you there. Understood?"

She looked horrified. He just assumed it was because she was clearly grounded, but he realized otherwise when she said, "I can walk to NCIS! Just like I always did!"

His eyes narrowed. "Wouldn't want you stumbling across any parties on the way and get arrested again."

"Gibbs, no! I won't go to any parties ever! I'll go straight home after NCIS for as long as you say, and maybe even longer! But just let me walk there!"

Gibbs paused. "What would I see?"

"What?"

"What would I see if I was outside your school when the bell rang?"

"N-Nothing..." She lied once again.

"Fine. I'll let you walk if it's really that important to you."

What Robyn didn't know is that Gibbs knew how to lie too.


End file.
